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Sanitize (Submerge or Spray bottle?)

Discussion in 'Beginners Beer Brewing Forum' started by jasolhe, Jun 15, 2013.

 

  1. #1
    jasolhe

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    1st few batches submerged everything in gallons of water and appropriate mixing of IOStar sanitizer.

    Wouldn't it be easier, cost less, to mix up small batch and spray bottle everything instead?

    Pro's/Con's?
    Obviously Im a newb so give it to me straight!

    Thanks

    -need to make up my mind in next 20 min lol
     
  2. #2
    stpug

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    I believe IOStar has a contact time of 30 seconds, same as starsan. Therefore, a spray bottle could work well for some things. I never have more than 1 gallon of sanitizer mixed up on a brewing/transferring day plus a spray bottle. I'm able to get all things sanitized effectively with this amount of sanitizer. The bonus is that I'll keep that 1 gallon of sanitizer around for 1-2 months for other purposes/brews, but I'm using starsan and I don't know the effective range of iostar.
     
  3. #3
    Fizzycist

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    I use a larger amount for carboys, running through tubing, etc. I do use a spray bottle for sanitizing bottles and other small stuff.
     
  4. #4
    woozy

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    It's situational.

    Spoons, hydrometers, things easy to dunk. dunk 'em. Bottle caps, the heads of spigots, the necks of bottles. Spray 'em.

    Have both ready. In the battlefield it'll be really easy to make judgement calls. Every time you reach for something think "whoa, i gotta clean this" and then depending on what it is and its size, just how will come to you.

    Basically its size and accessibility.

    ....

    Oh, one big con to spray and IOstar. StarSan sanitizes in 15 seconds. IOstar closer to 30 seconds to a minute. Thus you can't spray something and use it immediately. I don't let that stop me but LHBS guy said quote you can really use IOstar in spray unquote. I chose to take that with a grain of salt but nonetheless he did say it. (He actually said a lot of things that while certainly correct I'm not sure I care about the same things; he said he liked StarSan because it was more slippery--- to which I had to say ?huh?) So it's out there.

    StarSan a few dollars more for the 32 oz size seems a better sanitizer alround.
     
  5. #5
    jasolhe

    Well-Known Member

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    Thanks
    I agree
    Gonna use combo method
    Small things=spray bottle
    Fermenter buckets, bottles, tubing=submerge
     
  6. #6
    Pratzie

    Well-Known Member  

    Posted Jun 15, 2013
    Whenever i make a 5 gallon batch on brew day I always top off a new spray bottle and leave that around for starters, spraying my diptube for my refractometer readings, spraying all of my corny keg connections, etc etc etc.

    As far as that particular brand im not sure. ive used both Star San and Iodophor in a spray bottle and have never had any problems.
     
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